Colin Gunton on Frameworks of Belief

All interpretation is shaped by the frameworks of belief which we bring to it; the hope is that the text—or rather the Holy Spirit’s opening up of the text—will enable us both to use and to transcend those frameworks with ever new insights into the truth of the gospel.

Right on. The postmodern insight that everyone, by definition, sees through his own eyes and from his own location must not forget the fact that in reading the Bible we are not merely dealing with a static text but the living words of a person. My hope as I read in the Bible is not, finally, in my hermeneutical skill or theological knowledge—though these are important secondary means. My hope is not in myself at all; it’s in God’s mercy and grace, as it is in all areas of life.

Author: Mark Ward

PhD in NT; theological writer for Faithlife; former high school Bible textbook author for BJU Press; husband; father; ultimate frisbee player; member of the body of Christ.
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